windows 10 home pc ran into problem needs to restart

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carl a

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Oct 25, 2015
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Hey guys and gals staff and fellow members I need your help with this computer its driving me up a wall. I ran some updates last night and the updates got stuck at 95% for hours and I finally manually turned the computer off. Now I cannot get into the computer because the computer ran into a problem and needs to restart bad system config info. and its also report inaccessible boot device.I have tried every fix but to no avail. Here is a summary of what I've tried so far automatic repair, system restore, registry backup in the command prompt, use start up settings,safe mode, and many more tweaks , I thought for sure that copying the former registry settings would fix the problem but on avail. What about downloading windows 10 to a bootable usb and fix the configuration problem? I know that you guys got a solution for me to follow. Thanks for your input.
 
If you do not have a full system image backup you may be out of luck. If you do not have a backup of the user data for all accounts on the machine now is the time to make one, even if you have to pop the drive out and attach it as an external drive on a different computer.

Some of what you've done, particularly overwriting the registry with old settings, makes recovery far, far more difficult, not easier.

What follows is my standard Windows 10 Revival steps script. Unfortunately, based on what you've offered, I suspect that you will only be able to get back to the land of the living via a completely clean reinstall if you do not have a full system image backup on external media from which to recover.
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All of what follows presumes any issue that is occurring is not secondary to a malicious infection. If you believe it is, then your first order of business should be attempting to exorcise your system of said infection. That’s a topic of its own and won’t be covered here.

Also, certain issues point to device drivers being the most likely source underlying them. If that’s the case make sure you have gotten the latest device drivers from either your computer’s OEM support pages or the OEM support pages for the component (e.g., video card, WiFi card, printer, etc.) and installed those and tested afterward.

If you are experiencing unexpected issues immediately or very shortly after any Windows update has been applied, then the first thing you should do is use the Windows 10 built-in capability to uninstall the latest update that’s suspected of causing the issue:

  • Open Settings, Update & Security. This should take you to the Windows Update Pane by default.
  • In the Windows Update Pane, locate the View update history control, and activate it.
  • In the View Update History dialog, locate the Uninstall updates link and activate it.
  • In the Installed Updates dialog, the updates will be listed in groupings, with the groups alphabetically ordered, and the items within each group ordered by date – most recently installed first (if no one has changed the defaults). In most cases, you’ll be looking to uninstall a Microsoft Windows update, and those are generally the final group. The number of updates available for uninstalling is shown in parentheses after the Microsoft Windows group name.
  • Almost all Windows Updates will have a KB number associated with them, and if you know that use this as what you search on for the actual update. Select it.
  • Activate the Uninstall button located above the list of updates, and the selected update will be uninstalled.
If it’s not an update that’s suspected of causing an issue, there are other steps you can take. Before going any further, it must be noted that a repair install (or feature update, when those are being done) allows one to keep all of one's files and apps (desktop/installed and store varieties). This is in complete contrast to a Reset (which allows either keeping just one’s files or wiping everything), or a Refresh/Fresh Start or Completely Clean Reinstall, both of which wipe everything.

My standard advice, in virtually all cases, (and presuming any potential infection has already been addressed, first) is trying the following, in the order specified. If the issue is fixed by option one then there's no need to go further. Stop whenever your issue is fixed:

1. Using SFC (System File Checker) and DISM (Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management) to Repair Windows 8 & 10


2. Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file


3. Doing a completely clean reinstall (options a & b are downloadable PDF files):

a) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Download Win10 ISO File

b) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Create a Bootable USB Drive

c) How to do a CLEAN Installation of Windows 10 (Tom’s Hardware Forums, with screen shots)

I never choose the “thermonuclear option,” the completely clean reinstall, until it's clear that this is the only viable option. I hate having to go through all the work of reconfiguring a machine from scratch if that can reasonably and safely be avoided.



 
Thanks for the swift reply you drop so much knowledge on me its intimidating, but I am up for the challenge just hang in there with me because some of the info is above my computer knowledge at this time, but I have a gist of what you are explaining. I know about the media creation tool but cannot understand how can I perform some of the tasks that you recommend when I cannot get into windows at all.Question if I do reset will its reset the machine all the way back to windows 7 or just to windows 10?
 
I agree that you cannot do the SFC/DISM or even a Repair Install unless you can boot into Windows 10. Hence my pessimism about not having to take the "thermonuclear option" and do a completely clean reinstall of Windows 10. In your case, since it's your machine and you have no need to wipe data before a reinstall, you could skip the steps using the diskpart command in the instruction sets I've written, and referenced above (they're downloadable), which explains everything step by step.

What I propose would get you back to a completely fresh copy of Windows 10. Given that anyone staying with the Windows ecosystem is eventually going to have to go to Windows 10 (including current Windows 8.1 users) I only suggest reverting to earlier versions if that is the only thing one can do, then upgrade. But since you have, I presume, an activated/licensed copy of Windows 10 on the machine that's stuck, you have absolutely no need to go back to any earlier version of Windows.

Perhaps someone else will have a suggestion on how you might avoid a completely clean reinstall, but I don't based on what's been stated so far. I also think the safest thing is to do a completely clean reinstall based on some of the things you've done in attempts to fix the system, as they could make for a very unstable system even if you could get in again. Though if you were somehow to get Windows 10 to boot again I'd use the Repair Install/Feature Update instructions.

I presume you may have already tried the "hard power down three times" technique to get Windows to attempt to boot into recovery mode. If you hold in the power button until the machine simply shuts down, on the third power up you should be taken into Windows Recovery Mode. Whether that will help you at all is an iffy proposition right now.
 
I when for the gusto and finally performed reset pc and kept my files and got back into this computer, after more than 8 hours of repair attempts I threw caution out of my way and took courage. Fear is a great inhibitor that stop people from trying and succeeding after i ran sfc /scannow off line boot and found no integrity violations and ran chkdsk in recovery mode with corrections made to the drive that gave me courage to take a shot at the reset pc., now that I am back into windows I can attempt to tackle all the issues that confronted me. Stay tune for the results. Thanks for your insightful input.
 
Windows is back up and running and performed the pending updates however I notice that there are 4 current pending sectors on the hard drive (crystal disk info) so I did a chkdsk /r /f c: and the scan and fix is stuck in stage 5 at 39%. The disk has been stuck at this point for 5 hours with little movement and the ETA time is increasing should I let this fix (c)stage 5 at 39% continue or power off the machine?
 
Thanks for the swift reply patience is virtue that I need more of, now that I know that this disk has issues, replacing this disk will be on my agenda, but in the mean time salvaging what I can is a temporary option.
 
Hello my brilliant tech savvy friends and members I need your humble and yet precise recommendation on what is the next best thing I should do after this hard drive comes out of it's stupor being slow in scanning and fixing the c drive. it's been 17 hours since I started the chkdsk r / f c: and it's only 56% complete, backing up my data is a must and looking for a new hard is next , but what is the best way to try to salvage this hard drive? what would you do my friends?
 
Here's my advice. Others may differ:

1. Shut down the computer, forcibly if necessary (as in hold the power button in, but only if a standard shutdown doesn't work).

2. Acquire your replacement drive. Also acquire two USB drive enclosures of the correct type for your original drive and replacement drive
or two USB-to-correct interface type cables.

3. Get access to another computer. Install the cloning software of your choice on this computer.

4. Extract your dying drive from its machine.

5. Use cloning software to clone dying drive to new drive via the intermediary machine. Do not bother cloning bad sectors, and most cloning software won't
by default, but you need to check how your choice works and turn on the setting to skip bad sectors if this is not the default.

6. Use the cloned copy, which is on a disk that's not failing, to try to recover any data that you can.

After that, you could try transplanting the cloned copy back to the original machine then Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file, then see how/whether things function. If they do not, then resort to Doing a Completely Clean (Re)install of Windows 10 Using Media Creation Tool to Fetch the Win10 ISO File. You'll already have the ISO file fetched from doing the repair install, so you won't need to get it again if you must resort to a completely clean install.

I do not recommend doing anything that's intended to try to fix a HDD on one that already has clear signs of being in the process of failing, as it could trigger the final and complete failure. So could cloning from it, for that matter, but that's a far less repetitive input-output intensive process on the dying disk than disk fixing utilities are. The idea is to try to salvage everything that's on the dying disk to a good disk, so that you can run whatever you might need to run to get your data back on a disk drive that's not in the active process of dying. You can hit that drive as hard as you'd like with any utilities you'd like without risk of triggering the final failure.
 
Britechguy I love your style you come back swift, precise, and on point.I have everything you've just stated except the new hard drive.Step no#3 is where I am not clear on, why would I need another computer if I have the double enclosure (sabrent docking dual bay hard drive docking station) and transfer the info from one drive to another via from the enclosure , and BTW my greatest concern is will I also be cloning the bad sectors. last year about this time of year I clone my two other computers hard drive to new ssd drives, my memory needs to be refresh on how to carry out these tasks . Britechguy I can perceive that you are computer sharp and if you can get a hold of a video showing what you propose then that would greatly allay my fears and doubts on how to perform theses tasks.
 
The only way I have every cloned a drive is using cloning software installed on a computer that coordinates the process.

Since you have a dying drive, and will be acquiring a new drive, and will need to clone the former to the latter I simply presume you will have a computer between the first drive and the second to accomplish this task, and that neither drive will be physically installed in to the actual machine that oversees the clone process. If there is a drive enclosure with a "clone button" (and I have little doubt such could exist) I have never used one.

The worry about cloning bad sectors is, in my opinion, not something to worry about. Bad sectors, if they're soft bad sectors, can be corrected on the destination drive where they've been copied. Hard bad sectors cannot physically be copied. See: Bad Sectors Explained: Why Hard Drives Get Bad Sectors and What You Can Do About It

You just want to minimize the chance of complete failure on a drive in the process of failing by getting everything off it, if you can, to a drive that is known to be OK. You can then apply whatever utilities might be necessary, if any, to get the data off the cloned drive without fear of it failing.

There's not much more I can tell you beyond what I've said before and here.
 
Maybe my verbiage is wrong but last year I use that docking bay and transferred everything from one hard drive to another and BTW now I remember that I do have acronis software to clone drives . I have no doubt that what you are saying is absolutely correct I am just trying to get an understanding my friend. I brought acronis and the dual dock enclosure about the same time last time for situations that would arise such as this, and yes you can clone with a dual docking bay there are videos on web to show you how. I am open to do this thing anyway you prefer. I have everything except the new hard drive and I am ready to learn and do new productive things always, so lets do it after I get that new hard drive.
 
Backups are necessary,But few people back up before an unforeseen problem occurs.Using a Windows bootable disc to reboot the computer,this will minimize the damage,because it's also free to create one.
 

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